More National Guard Troops Move into Flint as Water Crisis Widens

Breaking News Emails

Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

Jan. 18, 2016, 5:56 PM GMT / Updated Jan. 19, 2016, 1:20 AM GMT

By The Associated Press, Tony Dokoupil and Jon Schuppe

The National Guard sent dozens of additional members into Flint, Michigan, on Monday to help address the impoverished city's water crisis, as Gov. Rick Snyder came under widening criticism — from residents and presidential candidates — for his handling of a massive exposure to lead.

The 70 new guardsmen more than doubled the number already in Flint to hand out bottled water, filters and testing kits in the city's worst-hit neighborhoods. The first wave of troops arrived over the weekend, while President Obama declared a state of emergency and ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to join the effort.

The contamination is linked to Flint's decision — under the oversight of a city manager appointed by Snyder — to save money by taking tap water from the Flint River. Soon after the April 2014 switch, some of the city's 100,000 residents began complaining about the taste, smell and appearance of the water. Tests later showed the river water lacked proper treatment, causing lead to leach from old pipes. Local children have shown elevated levels of lead in their blood, a condition that can cause permanent brain damage.

"We've had a city in the United States of America where the population, which is poor in many ways and majority African-American, has been drinking and bathing in lead-contaminated water," Clinton said. "And the governor of that state acted as though he didn't really care."

Her chief rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, has also criticized the way Snyder has handled the unfolding disaster.

Snyder, a Republican, has accused Clinton of seeking political gain by criticizing him. But he has also repeatedly apologized, and he did it again in a breakfast appearance at the University of Michigan's Flint campus, according to the Detroit News.

Political statements and finger pointing from political candidates only distract from solving the Flint water crisis.

Meanwhile, frustrated Flint residents continued to feed and bathe themselves and their children with bottled water.

Snyder said that workers have delivered water and filters to 16,000 homes, but that's not even half of the city's 50,000 households.

Shayne Hodges, a 38-year-old father of three who bought his home just before the crisis, said he and his kids survive on two cases of water a day. He looks in their eyes for signs that the lead is affecting them, even though he knows poisoning could take years to reveal itself.

"Not knowing what's going on and when we're going to be fixed — I bought my home here, so I'm trapped, basically. That's how I feel," Hodges said.

Ariana Hawk, 25, a pregnant mother of two, said her 2-year-old son has rashes on his face and body from exposure to the contaminated water. She bathes him and her other child by wiping them down using bowls of bottled water warmed in the microwave.

She said she was heartbroken, and lived in fear of the long-term consequences on their brains.

"It's upsetting, you know. I got two little ones that are getting ready to go to school. I gotta think five years from now, that anything at any point can mess with they brain or alter them in a way," she said. "I don't want them to grow up like that."

Hawk said he had yet to have water delivered to her home. She called Snyder's response "bullcrap."

"I don't think that it's sincere," she said.

The Associated Press

Tony Dokoupil

Tony Dokoupil is a reporter for msnbc and the host of "Greenhouse" on SHIFT by msnbc, a show about the life and much-predicted death of our old familiar globe.

He previously joined NBC News in September of 2013 and contributed scripts and features to NBCNews.com, along with reporting across NBC platforms, including the Today Show and Nightly News.

He’s also the author of “The Last Pirate,” a book about his father and the pre-legal world of smuggled marijuana. The New York Times called it, “a probing, exuberant memoir” and People Magazine said the story “will fill you with hope.”

Prior to NBC News, Dokoupil worked for The Newsweek Daily Beast Company, where he was a senior writer. In that role, he was a host of BeastTV and he wrote numerous cover stories, including “The Suicide Epidemic,” “iCrazy” and “Dustoff 73.” His story “The Last Dive" and the original video became Newsweek's first video cover.